India’s Shiva Keshavan fought a grave injury to win gold at the Asian Luge Championship in Nagano, Japan, on Friday, reported Hindustan Times.
Shiva Keshavan finished the race with a time of one minute, 39.962 seconds and top speed of 130.4 km/h to clinch the title. Japan’s Tanaka Shohei came in second with a time of 1:44.874 seconds and top speed of 124.6 kmph to grab silver, while the bronze medal went to Chinese Taipei’s Lien Te-An, who clocked 1:45.120 with a 126.3 km/h top speed.
However, victory was a hard-fought one for Keshavan, who suffered tendon damage on his left foot after a crash that broke his sled last week. He had to miss a major part of the official training for the Asian Luge championship event.
“I was determined to not let anything deter me from the gold medal this time, so despite all the obstacles I decided to risk everything in the race. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all my supporters and sponsors, without whom I would not have been able to get back on track and win this medal for India,” Shiva said.
Shiva is set to take part in the 2017 World Championship in Innsbruck, Austria, and will compete in the World Cup circuit in the lea-up to the qualification process for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea.